Baxter Gates

Updated 5 November 2022

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in two ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 16 May 2022 and ended on 07 July 2022. We visited two of the services supported living locations on 16 May 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager, quality assurance manager and seven care staff. We also spoke with three people living at the service and three relatives. We reviewed a range of records including three people’s care plans and risk assessments, two people’s medicines, four staff files including recruitment, supervision and appraisal, numerous auditing processes, training records and other documentation that supported the running of the service. We also spent time observing people’s experiences and interactions with staff.

Updated 5 November 2022

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

About the service

Baxter Gates provides care and support to people living in supported living accommodation. The supported living accommodations comprised of a terrace house with a rear garden. Each person had their own bedroom and access to washing facilities and shared kitchens. The service worked with people with a learning disability. At the time of the inspection, the service was supporting three people across two houses.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The service clearly demonstrated how they met the principles of Right Support, Right Care and Right Culture.

Right Support:

Staff focused on people’s strengths and supported them to achieve independence through meaningful activities. Staff supported people to achieve their aspirations and goals understanding their individuality and freedom of choice. People were encouraged to try new things and supported to live their best lives. Staff understood people wanted to have normal, fulfilling lives and worked with people to achieve this. Staff supported people to take part in activities and pursue their interests. Staff enabled people to access specialist health and social care support in the community. Staff supported people to make decisions following best practice in decision-making. Staff communicated with people in ways that met their needs. Staff supported people with their medicines in a way that promoted their independence and achieved the best possible health outcome. Staff supported people to play an active role in maintaining their own health and wellbeing.

Right Care:

People experienced a truly person-centred model of care where staff put the person at the heart of everything they did. People and, where appropriate, relatives, were fully involved in all aspects of planning their care, from initial assessment to the care planning and review process. Staff understood people had better outcomes if they felt in control of their care. We observed kind and caring interactions between people and staff where people were smiling, laughing and joking around. People told us they felt happy and were supported to try new things such as new foods and activities. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. People could communicate with staff and understand information given to them because staff supported them consistently and understood their individual communication needs. People who had individual ways of communicating, using body language, sounds, pictures and symbols (could interact comfortably with staff and others involved in their treatment/care and support because staff had the necessary skills to understand them.

Right Culture:

The ethos and values of the service was embedded into the culture of the service. There was an open culture where people, staff and relatives felt able to voice their opinions and be heard. People were supported by a consistent, dedicated and compassionate staff team. This meant people were able to build strong and effective working relationships which empowered them and promoted better outcomes for their care. People’s feedback about the care was valued and used to further improve the quality of care. People received good quality care, support and treatment because trained staff and specialists could meet their needs and wishes. People were supported by staff who understood best practice in relation to the wide range of strengths, impairments or sensitivities people with a learning disability and/or autistic people may have. This meant people received compassionate and empowering care that was tailored to their needs. Staff knew and understood people well and were responsive, supporting their aspirations to live a quality life of their choosing. Staff turnover was very low, which supported people to receive consistent care from staff who knew them well. Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving the person, their families and other professionals as appropriate.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 10 December 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.